I am pleased to have seen the Open Rights Group grow from a simple PledgeBank page to the lobbying organisation is is today, raising the profile of digital rights and civil liberties throughout the public sphere. I would like to play a greater role in helping ORG in succeeding in this role, and see this election as a opportunity to bring my skills and experience to the board.
Firstly, my experience as a campaigner. I'm an elected local politician, serving on Cambridge City Council as a councillor for the Liberal Democrats. Through this work, I have influenced the council's work for transparency and open data leading to an adopted motion to council. I appeared as a panellist at the Cambridge satellite of the Convention of Modern Liberty, speaking on digital engagement in government. Nationally, I have lobbied the MP for Cambridge, David Howarth who highlighted in the house of commons clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, allowing ministers to create information sharing orders. I will also be submitting a motion to the national party to adopt the Open Government Data Principles as national policy, freeing data that has been produced with public money for the public to use as they wish.
Secondly, my experience of sitting on boards of non-profit entities. I served for three years on the board of Software in the Public Interest, Inc, a non-profit organisation which was founded to help organisations develop and distribute open hardware and software. I also am the chair of trustees for a local community centre, a primary school governor and a board observer for a music and arts centre. These, along with my role on the City Council, have provided experience in the strategic role of a board member as well as valuable experience in finance, human resources, policy and fund raising.
In my spare time, I'm a developer for the Debian project, creating an open source Linux based operating system. During the week, I work for Amino Communications who create set top boxes for IPTV markets. Thank you for your time, I look forward to answering your many questions! If you have any questions or queries, feel free to get in touch.
I am standing for election to the board of directors because I passionately support the ORG. We have a government whose recent legislative agenda shows a breathtaking disregard for digital liberties. We have a Secretary of State for innovation who seems to be doing his best to stifle innovation. We have members of Parliament, of all parties, who do not understand the technologies they are legislating. This state of affairs resulted in the unjust, ineffective and unenforceable proposals in the Digital Economy Bill.
This legislation would deprive many citizens of access to the most important medium of our time. Furthermore, it will be the most marginalised that will lose their access: those who are not technically savvy enough to defend themselves against baseless accusations; those reliant on open access points, closed by fears of legal action and, by the government’s own assessment, the 40,000 households unable to afford the resulting rise in ISP costs.
I am your stereotypical geek: a self taught programmer as a kid, who worked for years in the IT industry before doing a PhD in artificial intelligence. But I truly believe that people like me are not the main beneficiaries of the digital revolution. They are the recent graduates searching for a job opening. They are the entrepreneurs who can turn their kitchen into the centre of a global business. They are the worried parents who reach out for advice and reassurance. People like me will always find a way to get online. For others, losing internet access can mean the loss of opportunity, livelihood or a lifeline.
Whilst working on the independent evaluation of the NHS Summary Care Record Programme, I experienced first-hand the worrying technological naivety that bedevils government IT projects. The ORG provides an essential voice in the debate, educating politicians, businesses and the wider public. Digital rights will be increasingly important in years to come and will never be more under threat than they are now. That is why I support the ORG, and why I would be honoured to serve in the capacity of board member.
Emma Byrne is a former software engineer who holds a PhD in Computer Science from University College London. She now works as a researcher in computational models of intelligence. She also has also worked as a consultant researcher on the independent evaluation of the NHS Summary Care Record project.
Hello there. Some of you may have met me, and I'd like to meet the rest of you. Because ORG is, at heart, nothing more than it's members, and the conversations we have with each other and with other people, on and off-line. It's a thriving community of interested and interesting people desperately trying to do the right thing; understand why it's the right thing, and that's something I feel is amazingly important.
I'm standing to support the community of ORG members; provide a voice for those outside London, look at ways the organisation can support more of us meeting, more often, in more places, and give you the tools and confidence to go out and spread the word, whether about the latest threat to digital civil society, the latest membership drive or simply helping people understand why what we do is so important.
I've done a lot with ORG in the last few years, and it's been an amazing way for me to effectively protest and engage on issues I believe in, from e-voting to copyright reform. ORG has given me the chance to meet MP's, new friends and new colleagues, as well as the excitement of being part of a successful campaigning organisation. I want to help other people enjoy being a member as much as I have and continue to do.
0. Our Problem We have a technology literate population - but we don't have a technology literate governing class.
1. Our Solution We need to urgently redress this problem. Government in the UK is run by those who bother to show up. At the moment that's only the 45% of the population who vote* and an army of industry lobbyists.
The law does not understand technology. It's evolved over thousands of years, so has a lot of momentum, and it's going to take time for it to get to grips with the current era of ubiquitous information. We get to influence that process as it happens. However as individuals we don't have the same resources available to us to exert that influence as do governments and businesses. Unfortunately their interests and ours don't always coincide.
That's why I signed Danny O'Brien's pledge in 2005, and more importantly why I put my money where my mouth was when the pledge succeeded. But something similar doubtless holds true for each of the candidates standing, and for each person voting. So what distinguishes me from the other candidates vying for the right to represent you?
I've sat as a staff representative on the board of a £400,000 turnover charity for over two years, so I understand the duties and responsibilities of a charity director. As a manager in a Citizens Advice Bureau, employed to manage large teams of volunteers, I appreciate the operational issues involved. I've been employed as a sysadmin and programmer, so I understand and love technology. Having worked in the advice sector for over four years, I have demonstrated commitment and passion to the cause of the individual that I would be honoured to bring to the board of the Open Rights Group. Furthermore I have gained a good working understanding of much of the UK legal system as it relates to individuals.
Thanks to us as supporters, the Open Rights Group is now established as a potent force lobbying for digital rights in the UK. It's now time to consolidate that growth, and I would like to help the organisation to do that by encouraging the board to consult more with those who fund its activities. These elections are an excellent start, but if elected I would work to ensure that more is done to allow members to influence the agenda and future direction of the organisation.
Due to practical constraints, I would typically need to attend board meetings by teleconferencing, but should I be elected I will endeavour to attend in person whenever practical to do so.
I believe that the Open Rights Group has the potential to shape the way our society understands digital rights. I hope to have the privilege of representing you on its board.
The Open Rights Group is its supporters. ORG makes things happen because you care.
From the individuals who support us financially or in kind, to the scores of people who keep our lively email lists buzzing and those who generously volunteer their time and expertise, hundreds of people contribute to ORG's success.
